poems

"They shall grow not old, as
we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them."from the poem 'For
The Fallen'
by Laurence Binyon

NZ436099

Corran
Perry Ashworth was born in Eketahuna, New Zealand, on 25 September
1921, eighth
child and fourth son of Arthur John and Edna Mary Ashworth. He
was educated at Alexandra District High School where he obtained his
University
Entrance in 1937. In civil life he was employed as a clerk in the Post
and Telegraph Department and his favourite sports were rugby, cricket
and
tennis.

1941 -
1942

Corran
Ashworth applied for enlistment in the RNZAF in January 1941 and
was enlisted at
Levin (around 95 km north of Wellington)
on 15 June. His flying training was carried out at No. 3 Elementary
Training School, Harewood, Christchurch, and No 2
Service Flying School, Woodbourne
(located 8 km west of Blenheim).
He was awarded the
Flying Badge on 18 October and promoted to Temporary Sergeant on
November 29.

On most Sundays we were free of duties,
and my father would collect
me, and some of the others, to go home for the
day. Already, lasting friendships were forming in the groups, and I
teamed up with Corran Ashworth - known as 'Ash' - a man of considerable
charm and ability, and a very good pilot. His instructor was called
'Butch' Baines, because of his tendency to turn purple when he wound
himself into a rage. Ash trudged away from a Moth one morning grinning
widely, but with a pale and subdued instructor.

The flying exercise had been spinning, and recovering
from
the spin.
Ash had pulled the nose of the aircraft up until it was stalled, but
was not applying rudder (to cause the spin) to the satisfaction of his
instructor. "Boot it on - hard - like this"; yelled Butch lunging at a
rudder pedal. With the Moth spinning earthward he then roared: "Right -
recover and pull out." He was one of those annoying instructors who
sometimes kept his hand and feet on the controls while the pupil was in
action, and after several turns in the spin he started raving at Ash to
pull out. Ash yelled back,
"Get your bloody feet off the rudders!"

The panic set in. Butch had jammed the sole of his
flying
boot between
the rudder bar and the side of the cockpit, and there was no way it
could be withdrawn. In desperation he released his safety harness,
wrenched his foot out of the flying boot, then tore the boot forward
and clear of the rudder bar with his hands. Ash corrected the spin and
only pulled out of the dive 'scraping the daisies.'

After they landed Butch actually apologised to Ash.

Excerpt from
Johnnie Houlton's
book 'Spitfire Strikes'
pages 19 - 20

He embarked for the
United Kingdom in December 1941, commencing
advanced flying training at No. 17 Advanced Flying Unit, Watton,
Thetford, Norfolk on 16 March 1942. He moved on to No 55 Operational
Training Unit, Annan, Dumfriesshire on 7
April to undergo training on Hurricane
aircraft. On June 9 he
joined No. 403 Canadian Squadron at Martlesham, Suffolk, participating
in operational exercises in Spitfire aircraft. Corran flew for the
first time on 12 June 1942, in a Spitfire. On 25 June he joined
No. 253 Squadron at Hibaldstow,
Lincolnshire, after 48h of
flying, where he flew Hurricanes once more. He participated in the
ground strafing of Dieppe, his second mission in operation. He took off
in a Hurricane at 04h30 to attack the gun position on the coast around
Dieppe. He flew a second time, for one hour, between 16h30 and 17h30 in
the valley of Scie.

In November, the Squadron moved to French North Africa, operating from
Phillipville, Algeria. Sergeant Ashworth, as pilot of a Hurricane in
the Squadron, participated in patrols, convoy escort and sea sweeps.
The Squadron contacted enemy aircraft on a number of occasions.

1943

Sergeant Ashworth reported shooting down a JU-88
in the vicinity of Jemmapes on
15 February 1943, and he was promoted to
the rank of Pilot Officer on 23 March, at which time he was discharged
from the Royal New Zealand Air Force.NB

On June 15 he was transferred to No. 14 Squadron, Blida, Algeria where
he continued operations, flying Mustang I aircraft. He joined No 32
Squadron at Tingley in North East Algeria on July and he was flying
both Hurricanes and Spitfire
aircraft on varied operations. On 9 July he reported shooting down a Bf-109
fifty miles N-NW of Galite. This was confirmed and on 23 September he
was promoted to the rank of Flying Officer.

Flying Officer Ashworth returned to England in October and, after a few
days at No. 55 Operational Training Unit, was sent to No. 3 Flying
Instruction School, Lulsgate Bottom, Somerset. He returned to No. 55
Operational Training Unit on October 10, where he flew Hawker
Typhoon
and Hurricane, Miles Masters, Magister and Martinet aircraft.

1944

On D-Day, Flying Officer Ashworth proceeded to No. 83 Group Support
Unit at Redhill in Surrey where he flew Mustangs. He was then posted to
No.
65 "East India" Squadron.

On June
10, he moved with the Squadron to a newly captured aerodrome in
Normandy. The Squadron formed part of the 2nd Tactical Air Force and
was engaged on strikes against enemy railway yards, communications and
troop concentrations. Corran Ashworth had a busy month of bombing in
France and on the 14th of June he was on reconnaissance (12 Planes) in
the area of Rouen. He shot down a Bf-109 G6 of the 2./JG5: the pilot
was not wounded but his plane was totally destroyed. He followed up
with an Fw-190
near Argeantan on 17 June.

During July he flew a lot of reconnaissance missions from 65
Squadron's base in France: 122 Airfield. On the 11th and 12th he spent
time on formation and low flying as well as aerobatics. He 'shared'
a Bf-109 G6 III Gruppe of JG26, damaged near Dreux-Conches on
July
29,
with Sergeant Holland, 65 Squadron.

On August 2nd, Flying Officer Ashworth was not on mission because his
plane YT-U had technical problems on 31 July: the engine cut off and he
did training tests.

It
was raining hard early in the morning of August 3rd, though it
cleared mid-morning. The weather was very cloudy and visibility low
(10/10) when he took off at 10h34 with 12 other aircraft. At 500 metres
he saw the barges plus four 88-mm guns and 8 batteries of 20mm and 37mm
protecting the bridges and ferries located on this part of the Seine.
Flying Officer Corran Perry Ashworth was seen at 4,000 feet commencing
his pull out when his aircraft (Mustang
III, number FB-208, USAF serial
number 42-103102) appeared to
explode, going down in a ball of flame and plunging into the river. The
exact cause is not known but some very accurate enemy anti-aircraft
fire was experienced at the time and it is probable that one of his
bombs was hit by some. He was in the last section to go down and no
guns were fired.

Flying Officer Ashworth was classified as missing
believed killed and later reclassified to "presumed dead".

'There
is
nothing that war has ever achieved that we could not better achieve
without it'. ~ Havelock Ellis

Corran's
brother, Vince, has also been collating information. He has
been in contact with a French historian, Fabrice Dhollande, who is
writing a history of WWII in Normandy. Fabrice has put a lot of
effort into researching Corran, including arranging a memorial
plaque
which was unveiled - near the site where Corran died - on June 10th
2006.
Vince made a speech
in Corran's honour.

Author Paul Sortehaug interviewed
Kiwi airman Jimmy Prentice in 1989 and there was mention of Corran, who
was a friend of Jimmy's.

Dedicated,
also,
to the men and women
who fought and died,
were wounded physically and mentally
or became POWs or MIAs
in
the conflict known as
World War II
as
well as the many wars
before and since.
Also,
to those who
experienced war
through
their loved ones' eyes
and
became affected by
those experiences
and
suffered from the loss of their loved ones.

'War does not determine
who is
right. War determines who is left.' – Bertrand Russell

Vince
Ashworth was a
12-year old schoolboy when his war hero brother
was killed:

"We never knew exactly
what happened, but it was a very sad time. I
remember very vividly how families were advised of casualties. We got a
knock on the front door at 5 o'clock one night. It was the postmaster
and he handed Mum a telegram and said he was sorry. Casualty lists were
published every day in the Otago Daily Times, too. That's how it was
done in those days."

Flying Officer Ashworth
is among the 20,450 Allied airmen who died in
unknown circumstances during World War 2 with all names listed on the
Runnymede Memorial, at Englefield Green in England.

"That was the end of it
for 60 years, as far as my family was
concerned," Vince said, "Then, eight months ago, I received an email
from an amateur French military historian, Fabrice Dhollande, who was
doing research on World War 2 in Normandy. He had met a local man who,
as a child during the war, had seen my brother's plane going into the
river."

Four of Vince's
brothers also fought in World War 2, including
highly decorated Wing Commander Artie Ashworth,
who was awarded the
DSO, DFC and bar, and AFC and bar. With the average life of RAF bomber
crews being 10 operations, Artie's survival of 110 missions was seen as
something of a miracle.